Aristocrat Leisure and Light & Wonder have reached an agreement to settle their pending litigation over Light & Wonder’s disputed Dragon Train game. The latter will pay a $127.5 million settlement over misappropriation and infringement of intellectual property claims.
In its case, Aristocrat had argued that Dragon Train had several similarities to its own Dragon Link series. Dragon Link first launched in 2017, whereas Dragon Train did not go live until March 2024.
Aristocrat had accused Light & Wonder of misappropriating its intellectual property, copying game mechanics and gameplay and copyright infringement. It also raised concerns over the role some of its former executives played in the game’s development.
Aristocrat won an initial court case in September, effectively stopping Light & Wonder from commercialising the game. The matter then went back to court, with legal proceedings enacted in both Australia and the US.
At the time, Light & Wonder said it would appeal that initial court ruling after “respectfully disagreeing with the decision”. L&W had said it would “vigorously” defend against Aristocrat claims, including presenting its defences to a jury at a trial.
Dragon Train was estimated to account for less than 5% of L&W’s full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA, 2025 adjusted EBITDA forecast of $1.43 billion to $1.47 billion.
Aristocrat to dismiss litigation claims
Within the settlement Light & Wonder also acknowledged certain information obtained from Aristocrat had been used in the development of Dragon Train and another game called Jewel of the Dragon. As such, it agreed to cease commercialisation of both games globally and to make best efforts to remove existing installations.
Also as part of the settlement, Light & Wonder said it would not make further use of the highlighted Aristocrat information and copyright works. It also agreed to permanently destroy all documents reflecting this information.
Both parties agreed to carry out confidential procedures for identifying and resolving any issues over the use of Aristocrat’s mathmatical information connected to new and existing Light & Wonder games. They acknowledged the “significant investment and innovation” behind the development of games and said they would respect intellectual property rights to ensure fair competition in the market.
Aristocrat’s claims against Light & Wonder will be dismissed in both the US and Australia.
‘Positive outcome’ for Aristocrat
Aristocrat CEO and Managing Director Trevor Croker welcomed the settlement. He said while “fair” competition was healthy, the company would robustly defend and enforce its intellectual property rights.
“As an ideas and innovation company our intellectual property is vital to our ongoing success,” Croker said. “We are committed to protecting the great work of our dedicated creative and technical teams.
“We welcome this positive outcome, which includes significant financial compensation and follows the decisive action we took to ensure the preservation of Aristocrat’s valuable intellectual property assets.
“This decisive action included securing a preliminary injunction in September 2024, at which time the court recognised that Light & Wonder was able to develop Dragon Train by using Aristocrat’s valuable trade secrets and without investing the equivalent time and money.”
Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson also said he was pleased to resolve this matter. He said the company was committed to conducting business “the right way” and respecting competitors’ intellectual property rights as well as its own.
“This matter arose when a former employee inappropriately used certain Aristocrat math without our knowledge and in direct violation of our policies,” he said. “Upon discovery, we took immediate action and have since implemented strengthened processes aimed at preventing similar issues in the future.
“This settlement protects the interests of our customers, employees and shareholders, and allows us to continue our focus on developing and delivering the market-leading content our customers expect, without distraction or disruption.”
A growing industry trend?
Aristocrat vs Light & Wonder’s high-profile case highlighted a growing trend of gaming IP cases, in which intellectual property is being weaponised across the sector.
A similarly high-profile case between Aviator crash game developer Spribe and Georgian gaming studio Aviator LLC over imagery and trademarks is headed to a UK High Court. Spribe last year won an initial injunction against Aviator LLC, blocking it from producing a copycat crash game in the market.
Aviator filed for permission to appeal in the Court of Appeal. This was abandoned not long after, with the court dismissing it and criticising Aviator’s conduct as “petulant”.
Weaponising intellectual property rights
Joel Vertes, partner and co-head of intellectual property at CMS in London, recently told iGB the upward trend of intellectual property disputes was due to the “huge value” in gaming development.
He explained that in Europe, game mechanics were difficult to protect directly. “Generally, you’re looking at a bundle of rights. So, you’re looking at the brand, and you’re looking at underlying copyright in the source code.”
“I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t weaponise your IP,” Vertes said. “If you’ve filed a patent over some mechanics in a game, or you’ve registered designs over the graphic user interface, why would you not go out and enforce it?”
Light & Wonder acknowledged information obtained from Aristocrat had been used in the development of its Dragon Train game.